Sunday, December 12, 2010

Harold Donaldson Eberlein (1875 - 1942) was a prolific writer. This passage appears in Historic Houses of the Hudson Valley, published 1942, but likely published for the first time around 1915.

"Old Hurley is just as Dutch as Dutch can be......Hurley cheeses and Kingston refugees have given Hurley most of its renown in the outside world. So plentiful and so famous at one time were the former, that Hurley was popularly credited with having "cheese-mines." The "pot-cheeses" of Hurley were much esteemed by Kingston folk and there grew up a brisk trade in this toothsome commodity.......The following old Dutch verses, done into English by a local antiquary, tell of plenty at Hurley, not only of pot cheese but of many other kinds of foodstuffs as well;-

What shall we do with the wheat bread do?Eat it with the cheese from Hurley.What shall we with the pancakes do?Dip them in the syrup of Hurley.What shall we with the cornmeal do? That comes from round about Hurley?Johnnycake bake, both sweet and brown, With green cream cheese from Hurley.

Does this not reflect the reign of peace, plenty and contentment? The old Dutch, indeed, is truly realistic as the question comes "Wat zullen wij met die pannekoeken doen?", and at the answer, "Doop het met die stroop van Horley," one involuntarily licks his chops over the dripping sweetness of "die stroop". "